Tag Archives: Sainsbury’s Napkins

For the last two days I have been working on making a coat to wear for The Boy’s wedding. After much procrastination I finally got down to cutting out the pieces. It sounds oh so easy but I am dealing with a pictorial fabric. It needs much jigging and re-jigging on the dressmakers dummy to balance the pattern. Sorry this all sounds very cryptic, and i’m surely hoping it doesn’t end up looking like a lab’ coat! I might be making a mad dash around the shops sometime very soon for an off the shelf creation. There have been painful moments, dealing with darts, un-fathonable instructions and a piece of pattern which went, and remains missing. Strangely though I am quite enjoying the process, apart from the fruitless search for pattern piece number 12!

In exasperated chinks of time I needed a “Keep Calm & Sew Simple” moment. Looking at Material Mountain I picked out some rolled napkin bundles, recently purchased in Sainsbury’s. Found on a clearance shelf, I bought 7 bundles at 80p each (2 napkins in each bundle). I had no plan for them but knew I liked the cream and red stripe. It reminded me of the abundance of red and white that adorned EVERYTHING in Stockholm. (Andyman will hate this link, a fan of Abba he is absolutely not!)

So my calming super quick sewing project turned out to be a replacement cushion cover for a kitchen chair. I timed myself and it took precisely 10 minutes to make from start to finish. With no fabric to cut, and no raw seams the napkins are ideal for a neatly finished cushion.

Instructions for your very own napkin cushion covers:-

1. Put your 2 napkins together right side to right side. Pin.
2. Start sewing just below the napkin hemlines and begin 3/4 way along one side of the pinned napkins. Continue sewing and when you get to the side that you started on leave a generous gap. This will allow you to pop your cushion pad in.
3. Turn the cushion right way out. Poke the corners out using a pencil or chopstick.
4. Pin and sew Velcro along either side of the gap.
5. If you wish you can sew some ties to your cushion so you can secure it to a chair. Place your cushion cover onto the chosen chair and mark in pencil, or pin where you want to sew your ties.
6. Press your cover and snip any loose threads.
7. Ease your cushion pad into your cover and secure with the velcro. Puff up your lovely new cushion.

Without even realising it the cushion really set off chair backs that I remodelled a few years ago. Originally Dutch style window panels, I added ties and used the panels to frou some utilitarian kitchen chairs.

With the cushion made for less than £1 and in less than 15 minutes, i’d say that’s a pretty good result. Eat your heart out Ian Mankin!